Trolley-retriever.



No. 851,029. PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

s. F. PIERCE. TROLLEY RETRIEVBR.

APPLIOATION FILED 00 T.30, 1906.

THE mamas Pzrsns 5a., WASHINGTON, n c.

SIMEON F. PIERCE, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

TROLLEY-RETRIEVER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 23, 1907.

Application filed October 30, 1905. Serial No. 284,928.

1b 0b whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIMEON F. PIERCE, a citizen of the United States, residing at St.

Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of the trolley when it has slipped from the wire,

so that it will drop back below the wire where it will not strike overhead cross-wires.

To this end my invention consists in the features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter particularly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of the retriever. nal section on line a: at of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view, and Fig. 4 is a cross-section on line y y of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, A represents a trolleypole supported in a socket 2, which has pivotal support 3 in a plate 4, rotatably supported upon a base 5. The trolley-pole is normally held in raised position by springs 6, connected at one end with a bracket 7, extending forwardly from the socket 2 and at the other end with a slide 8. The slide 8 is arranged in longitudinal guides 9 and is connected, by means of a piston-rod 10, with a piston 11, working within a cylinder 12, supported upon the plate 4. This cylinder is flexibly connected with a reservoir or source 13 of compressed air or other fluid by means of a conduit comprising a flexible portion 14 and a pipe portion 15. Arranged in the pipe 15 is a three-way valve 16, by means of which the cylinder end of the conduit may be opened to the atmosphere through the exhaust 17. The slide 8 is normally held in extended position by one or more dogs 18, having pivotal support in the ends of arms 19, carried by the rock-shaft 20, the dogs being held normally in the path of travel of the slide by means of springs 21. Also carried by the rock-shaft, but at an angle with the dog-supporting arms, is a rocker-arm 22, connected at its lower end, by means of a rod 23, with one of the members, preferably the cylinder member 24, of a longitudinallymovable dash-pot, the cylinder being open at one end and provided with a vent-hole 25 in Fig. 2 is a longitudi-- the other end. Within the cylinder 24: is arranged a piston member 26, connected, by means of the rod 27 ,With an arm 28, extending downwardly from the .bottom of the trolley-pole socket.

In use the parts will normally stand in the position shown in the drawings with the trolley held in raised position by the springs 6, these springs being held under tension by the slide 8, which is held in extended position by the dogs 18. If now the trolley should slip from the wire and the pole be carried up by its springs, the piston 26 would be driven into the cylinder 24 so violently as to compress the air in the end of the cylinder and throw back the dash-pot and the rod 23 connected therewith, thereby withdrawing the dogs 18 from engagement with the slide, which thus released will be carried backward by the weight of the trolley-pole, the piston 11 being at the same time driven to the rear end of the cylinder 12. The trolley-pole being thus released Will drop back below the wire.

When it is desired to replace the trolley upon the wire, the three-way valve is turned into position to permit the compressed air to pass into the rear end of the cylinder and return the parts to the positions shown in the drawings, the slide 8 in its forward move ment forcing down the dogs 18 against the pressure of their springs. As soon as the slide has passed the dogs will be thrown up bythe springs and hold the slide in extended position. The slide in its forward movement, acting through the springs 6, will raise the trolley into engagement with the wire.

To prevent the plate 4: in its rotation from turning so far as to strain the conduit leading from the source of fluid-pressure, the baseplate 5 is provided at one side with a lug 29, which intercepts and acts as a stop for the plate 4.

The vent-hole 25 in the end of the dash-pot cylinder will permit the piston 26 to be worked by ordinary movements of the trolley without moving the dash-pot asa whole to trip the dogs 18 but when the trolley jumps off the wire the movement of the piston 26 is so quick that it compresses the air in the end of the cylinder before it can escape through the vent 25, and thus actuates the dogs, as described, and even if the air should all escape from the end of the cylinder, so as not to be compressed when the trolley jumps above the wire, the cylinder would still be thrust back as soon as the piston struck the cylinder-head.

It will be observed that the eXtent of movement of the trolley-pole required to throw back the dash-pot and the quickness of response of the dogs to the movement of the trolley-pole may be regulated bymaking the vent-hole larger or smaller.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a trolley-pole, of a cylinder, a piston and piston-rod working therein, spring connection between the trolley-pole and piston-rod, means normally locking the piston-rod in position to hold the trolley-pole raised, and means actuated by an upward movement of the trolley-pole to release said locking means.

2. The combination, with a trolley-pole, of a cylinder, a piston and piston-rod working therein, spring connection between the trolley-pole and piston-rod, means normally locking the piston in position to hold the trolley-pole raised, means actuated by an upward movement of thetrolley-pole to release said locking means, a source of fluidpressure, a conduit leading from said source of pressure to the cylinder, and a three-Way valve arranged in the conduit.

3. The combination, with a trolley-pole, of a cylinder adjacently arranged, a piston and piston-rod working within the cylinder, a source of fluid-pressure, manually-operated means for connecting the source of pressure with the cylinder, a spring-controlled dognormally holding the piston-rod in withdrawn position, and a longitudinally-movable dash-pot comprising a cylinder member a rod connected at one end with the rockerarm and at the other end with one of the dash-pot members, the other dash-pot memher being connected with the trolley-pole.

5. The combination, with a trolley-pole, of a cylinder, a piston and piston-rod working therein, a source of fluid-pressure communicating with the cylinder, spring connection between the trolley-pole and piston-rod,

means normally locking the piston-rod in position to hold the trolley-pole raised, and means actuated by an upward movement of the trolley-pole to release said locking means. 6. The combination, with a trolley-pole, of spring means connected therewith, a locking device for holding the spring in pole-raising position, a longitudinally-movable dashpot comprising a cylinder member and a piston member, one of said members being connected with the locking device and the other member with the trolley-pole.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' SIMEON F. PIERCE. WVitnesses:

H. S. J OI-INSON, EMILY F. OTIs. 

